Instructional television programming is becoming increasingly popular. In addition to the wide range of educational programming that is available on a variety of networks, many programs teach viewers about cooking, home repair, health, music or any number of other recreational topics. Many of the instructional programs now available provide a high level of instructional detail that allows viewers to develop relatively advanced skills or to complete relatively complex tasks without further assistance.
Often, however, television programs provide more information than most viewers can conveniently remember, at least without actively taking notes while viewing the program. A cooking program, for example, may have detailed lists of ingredients or instructions for preparing a particular recipe that may be difficult for many viewers to remember. Home repair programs may similarly present lists of parts or tools, or detailed instructions for completing a task that may be difficult to remember in full detail. Other programs, including non-instructional programs, may similarly provide detailed information about the programming content than the viewer may want to remember or access at a later date or time.
Often, Internet websites allow viewers to obtain recipes, parts lists or other information that is associated with broadcast programs. To access the website, however, the viewer typically needs to use a separate computer or other device other than the television, so the convenience and immediacy of watching a television program is lost. Moreover, if the audio or video portion of a program describes an Internet address, then the web site associated with the program typically needs to reside at that address for the entire life of the program, including syndication, reruns, etc. This can lead to administrative effort and cost to maintain websites at addresses described in programs that were originally broadcast many days, months or even years prior.
It is therefore desirable to create systems, devices and/or methods to provide or receive additional information associated with broadcast programming in a convenient manner. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.